lack in doing sth

[joham]

we do not lack in having new applicants for every meeting night.

Is 'lack in doing sth' a good constructure?

Thank you in advance.

[BobK]

You don't need the 'having'.

b

[joham]

Thanks a lot, moderator. Then both 'We lack sth' and 'We lack in sth' can be used, can't they?
Thank you again.

[BobK]

Thanks a lot, moderator. Then both 'We lack sth' and 'We lack in sth' can be used, can't they?
Thank you again.

Yes - but they don't always mean the same. 'We lack typists' means 'We don't have any typists'; 'We lack in typists' means, say, we should have 10 and we only have 6. This can be more clearly expressed by saying either 'We don't have enough' or 'We are wanting in...'. (I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if this 'to be wanting in' was primarily Br Eng).

b

[emsr2d2]

The "we lack in" construction sounds very unnatural to my BrE ears.

We lack typists - We have no typists.
We are lacking in typists = We have no typists OR we have fewer than we need.

We aren't lacking in new applicants at each week's meeting = We have plenty of new applicants = There is no shortage of new applicants.

[BobK]

It's a fair cop. or, as they probably don't say in France, touché. My collocation wasn't good. 'Lacking in' is more often used in connection with qualities: 'The Professor is extremely clever, but he's lacking in common sense.'

In connection with abundance, people may meet the expression 'we do not want for' - though I feel this is becoming rather mannered (if not archaic).

b